Federal government of Nigeria is resorting to price fixing of commodities that may lead to shortages and rational of essential commodities if the trend continue. The government and Cement manufacturers have agreed to bring down the price of the product to between N7,000 and N8,000 per 50kg depending on the location nationwide. The price of cement has been swinging between N8,000 and N10,000 per bag from about N5,000 weeks ago. There was astronomical increase in the price of the commodity to about N13,000 in several retail stores in the Federal Capital Territory, Enugu and other parts of the country. During a meeting initiated by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, and attended by his counterparts including Doris Uzoka-Anite from the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, in Abuja on Monday, efforts were made to identify the underlying reasons for the abrupt increase in commodity prices.
Dangote, BUA, and Lafarge are some of the cement manufacturers summoned by the Ministry of Works. The manufacturers present also expressed their readiness to willingly bring down the prices in future as soon as the federal government intervention are fulfilled. BUA Industries also disclosed plans to bring 6 million tons of cement into the market to mitigate the surging prices. The Federal Government also declared its intention to encourage the introduction of six new manufacturers. On his part, Umahi said certain issues, including smuggling, bad roads, high energy costs, and the foreign exchange crisis, caused the high price. “The cement manufacturers and the government have noted that the present high cost of cement in the market is abnormal in some locations nationwide.
“Ideally, they noted that cement price and retail price to a consumer should not cost more than between N7,000 and N8,000 per 50 kg bag of cement. Therefore, the government and the cement manufacturers, which is Dangote Plc, BUA Plc and Lafarge Plc, have agreed to peg their cement price nationwide between N7,000 and N8,000 per 50 kg bag of cement, depending on the location. Which means that this price depends on the location. Going forward, the government advised manufacturers to set up a price monitoring mechanism to ensure compliance with the prices that are set today,” he said.
